Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 17 June (HL475), what is the justification for requiring self-employed vehicle courier drivers to have third party insurance but not cyclist couriers.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Current legislation requires the use of motor vehicles to be covered by third party liability insurance. Compulsory insurance only applies to motor vehicles because the average speed and construction of motor vehicles means that they are much more likely than a pedal cycle to cause serious property damage or personal injury to a third party.

We have no plans to make insurance compulsory for cyclists. However, all cyclists are encouraged to take out liability insurance and a range of products are available on the market.